The temporary real effect of nominal shocks in a two-sector model of growth

The author employs a two-sector growth model to examine the effects of various nominal shocks (fiscal or exchange-rate) on sectors and production factors. He starts from the Neoclassical model of a small, open economy that expands through gradual adjustment of capital and the role of the money supply ('money into utility'). Consequently, a nominal shock (fiscal expansion or appreciation of the nominal exchange rate) will increase momentary consumption (through the role of money), which raises the prices of services. (The short-term transformation curve is non-linear due to the gradual capital adjustment.) This alters the price of the production factors, the ratios of labour to capital, and the utilization of capital and labour for each sector. The high level of service prices raises domestic incomes, which retrospectively provides a basis for some of the initial excess demand. This mechanism means that nominal shocks will have a relatively long-lasting effect on real changes (relative prices, factor prices and capital accumulation) that dies down only gradually as the surplus money supply is dissipated (through a foreign trade deficit). There is also a parallel between the model and literature analysing disinflation on an exchange-rate basis.